Kayla Lockhart’s Quick Fly Fishing Tips

Welcome to Quick Tips! A new series presented by Redington where we ask some friends their quick tips to teach anyone new they take out on the water. We were all beginners at some point and all of us are always learning new tips and tricks! Whether it is your first time out, or you have been fishing for 20 years, we hope you can take these tips and use them yourself or help a friend out you might be introducing to fly fishing. We will let Kayla Take it away from here! 

Hello Y’all! I am Kayla Lockhart, Redington semi-pro ambassador, fish wrangler, pint sized feather flicker! I was born and raised in a small town in Minnesota, where I first found my love for fly fishing and the outdoors! Im a big advocate for introducing and teaching this sport to people from all over, and am excited to share the Trout Tips with you. Whether you’ve been fishing your whole life or you are just getting your wading boots wet, I hope you can find something useful, and feel inspired to also pass the tips along!

FISHING TINY DRIES:

If you have experienced fishing tiny dries then you know the struggle of casting the fly out and it seemingly instantly gets lost in the foam, or maybe you were staring at a natural thinking it was your fly the entire time and setting on the wrong eat!

So a little tip to help you keep your eyes on your fly and not miss an eat again,  I like to tie on a larger dry fly, like a chubby Chernobyl and then tie on the tiny fly a foot or so below. You can now use the larger dry fly as an indicator to help be able to keep sight of the smaller, hard to see fly!

STREAMER FISHING:

When fishing a streamer, a lot of times I will fish two – A larger, heavier streamer,  like a sculpin pattern, and then a smaller streamer pattern like a leech or a Woolly bugger. This has proven to me on several occasions to be more productive when floating a river and I’m hammering the banks with quick casts/retrievals. 

I also like to tie the second streamer off the eyelet of the hook on the first fly, instead of off the shank of the hook. It helps to give the fly a bit more movement in water.

SINK TIPS (Pun Intended) 

I love to fish streamers a lot, and with that I will occasionally use sink tips. I have however learned that when I would tie my tippet onto the sink tip loop, the thinner tippet line would dig into the loop of my sink tip, and eventually ruin the fabricated loop. To help avoid this I use a thinker pound tippet to create what I call a “buffer” – I’ll use about a foot of straight mono of about 20# test and tie a loop knot at each end, then I can loop to loop one side to my sink tip and then loop to loop my tippet section. The thicker line won’t dig into my sink tip as much and I’ll be able to use that fabricated loop for a lot longer.

WATER HAUL

Utilizing a good ole’ water haul is useful in so many situations when fishing, but the most common time I use it, is when I am either fishing a big terrestrial pattern or if I’m bobber doggin’!

The water haul is casting technique and can be used when you’re finished with a drift of either a dry or a bobber rig lets say, and instead of stripping the line back in and re-casting completely, you can use the tension of the water on your line, that pulls your line taught from the current, and you’ll then do a pick up/haul/set down cast.

It gets your flies back in the water quicker,  and helps alleviate any tangles if there are a lot of bushes and trees at your backcast. 

What are some of your quick fly fishing tips you always use on the water? Let us know below!

If you are looking for a quick way to get out on the water and test out these tips yourself, check out Redington’s new Wrangler Kits! They all come “ready to fish” with rod, reel, line, and leader. Check them out HERE!